Lost: A Sense of Proportion

(Testing out cross-posting from DW for the first time, since a few people I know have switched over exclusively. LJ's still my primary "home" though, just getting a feel for things. ^^)

As a few of you know. this last weekend started out rough with our parakeet Volly dying Friday morning. We'd helped hand-raise and tame her since she was a baby and while she wasn't free in the house as much as our previous birds (partly because she had a more naturally nervous temperament and loved interacting with people but got overwhelmed in the Big Wide World, partly because before we didn't have cats roaming loose like we do now) she was cute and cheerful and by far the sweetest-natured of all her siblings. So that was hard and unexpected.

The week since then has been just such a blessing, though. It's been almost comical how perfectly everything worked out.  

As I mentioned earlier, I passed the final exam for second-degree black belt on Saturday! :D :D :D

It was a long, crazy, exhausting day. There were about 100 candidates for promotion in all (mostly brown belts testing for their first-degree black belt), which is a medium-ish size, though only three people from my school who made it through to the final exam. This time around, in addition to some fairly recent curriculum changes that were fully incorporated into the exam for the first time, they also were trying some new ways of running various sections of the final exam. So even though the exam itself didn't start until 1:00, we needed to get down to the Cities by 11:00 to run through drills, practice timing, and get other instruction on when and how we were supposed to do what. So we were busy with that until about 12:30, quick break for water and snacks, then lining up to start at 1:00. Exam itself ended at... a little before 3:00, I think? Could've been longer, maybe. The final graduation ceremony, giving out the new belts, lasted a while longer, so we weren't done until a little after 4:00. 

Between the exhaustion and stress and the heat (holy cow, it got so hot - just sitting in the audience my mom had to go outside for a while because she got overheated) it seemed to simultaneously fly by in a blur and take forever. It is always fun to do things like that when you have so many not-karate-people relatives in the audience watching, because not only are they really excited by the cool/hard stuff we do, but you get the audible gasps of alarm when black belts do self-defense takedowns and someone hits the mat fast. (Or, in the case of the higher-level black belts, partners are wearing protective gear so that candidates don't have to pull their strikes and most people who don't do karate don't realize that 1. The chest guards are made to absorb exactly those kinds of strikes, and 2. If you hit just right, it can amplify the sound of a kick considerably.) 

Also, as usual, in order to pair up for sparring they had everyone line up by height, which put me waaaaay down at the end with the kids who were mostly 10-12. Which meant that, like last time, I had to inform the instructors that I was actually an adult and wasn't supposed to fight the children... XD Fortunately, UNlike last time, this time there was another small woman in the same boat, so that was a lot more fun than ending up paired up with someone twice my size for the exam again, especially since my fight was directly in front of the Grand Masters' table.  

So. By the time I finished the exam, I was both thoroughly wiped out and wired beyond belief with adrenaline and relief. I am so, so happy to have made it through. There were quite a few times the last few months when I really thought I might not make it, mentally or physically. But now... I'm a second-degree black belt, and wherever things go from here having come this far and kept going through all of that is something that can't be taken away. 

Anyway, after that, vacation started. ^^ I hadn't been able to take much of a break, mentally or physically, for the last four months, and Mom and Nef wanted to take a short girls' trip. I'd also really wanted to do some fossil hunting for my birthday, and the best area to do that tends to be in the southern part of the state, and we were already most of the way there having driven that far for the exam, so our whole family drove a bit further to stay in a hotel near a nature center where I'd discovered fossil hunting is allowed. 

We had quite a thunderstorm Saturday night (perfect for washing away dirt and exposing new fossils), but Easter morning was beautiful and clear. After a morning church service, we went to the nature center, talked with one of the staff to get some advice on the better areas, and hiked up to the abandoned quarry. This being the first time I'd tried any organized fossil hunting (though I'd stumbled across a couple on previous trips out west), a lot of the time was just getting a feel for the lay of the land and what the types we were expecting to find looked like in their natural environment, but we did end up finding some quite nice ones. Mostly brachiopods and crinoids, a few others I'm going to need closer looks to identify. Really, really fun and I'm not the only one excited to try it again. (One day I'd love to go on some kind of guided hunt someplace like Montana or Utah...) 

After that, the guys had to head back to pick up the dog from the kennel and be home in time for work Monday, but Mom, Nef, and I spent the next few days in the Cities. We went to Como Zoo Monday, which we haven't done in probably 15 years, and had mind-bogglingly perfect weather for it. I got tons of photos with my new camera (will probably put up a few this weekend), both of the animals and of flowers in their conservatory, where they had a gorgeous Easter display.

Tuesday was rainy, so we spent the morning shopping and decided to go to the History Museum in the afternoon - at which point we found out that not only was admission free at the specific time we planned to go, and they had a big new WW1 exhibit (which Nef was especially excited about, since it's much less common than WW2 and she needs more background research for her book) but that evening we were in time to sign up for a special WW1-themed event they had on, where they played a Charlie Chaplain movie with a live band providing music, highlighted some of the history of the era, and let people screen print their own copies of WW1-era posters. 

Wednesday morning we went to the Science Museum, where they had a special exhibit on the history of fraudulent/misconceived medical inventions (with a lot from the early 1900s/20s, again fun and useful research for Nef), we got to visit parts of the museum we loved as children, and also alllll the lovely fossils. <3 I wasn't surprised to find that the gift shop had fossils for sale, but I was surprised that the prices were very reasonable. So... I may have gotten a little overexcited and ended up buying half a dozen (plus a beautifully detailed, realistic replica of a velociraptor claw and toe bones, since the chances of my affording a genuine one are zilch XD) for the price I'd normally be able to get maybe two or three, buying them online and paying shipping - with the added bonus of being able to see them in person and select exactly what I wanted. 

While we were at the Science Museum, we also ran into my godparents' youngest daughter. My parents knew their family long before I was born, but we haven't seen them in a while - the daughter lives in Kansas City now and was just up here for Easter, so getting to talk to her was a really fun surprise.  

Also, the lavender-peppermint lotion/shower gel/shampoo/conditioner at the hotel we were staying at was amazing, and I think I may have to buy all my stuff in that scent from now on. 

So yes - very nice to have a much-needed and refreshing break! ^^

Not being in a romantic relationship, Valentine's day tends to be pretty much a non-event for me. We do some things as a family, though, and it's been a bit of a tradition for us siblings to get something little for each other.
( Valentine's and Star Wars randomness )

Yep, that's pretty much been my mental and physical reaction to this month so far. Between helping my mom through the continuing recovery from her surgery the first half of the month (she's pretty well back to normal now), being right in the middle of the most stressful and demanding part of the black belt testing process, and a ton of other events and obligations, this year was probably not a good one to also decide to do a half NaNo.

But... I'm really liking the way my novel's coming along so far, and without that goal to push myself toward I knew I would've probably would've given in to exhaustion and just not worked on it at all this month. So. I've been writing. And so far it's still coming along. My current word count's at -


Still on track to finish at this point, much to my own surprise!

Karate is also going well. Between particularly intense workouts and getting punched in the head multiple times (not hard enough for a concussion... definitely hard enough to snap my head back and leave me with a stiff neck for days) soreness is pretty much a way of life at the moment.

I also found out, belatedly (my brother knew, but didn't realize I hadn't heard) that one part of the screening tests was a trick question, test-of-your-character sort of scenario. You're given a couple of options as if they really don't care either way which you do, but in fact your choice is actually a rather major factor in their assessment of you. Not being aware beforehand, I chose correctly by pure accident (or Divine intervention, more like), rather than some kind of determination to challenge myself and push my limits. I didn't think I could manage the easier option without flailing and/or falling over at that point, while I was pretty sure I could do the harder one technically correctly, even if my execution wasn't awesomely impressive. XD

So - Eric and I just got word that we both passed our final screening, and will be allowed to go down to the Cities for the final exam on December 7th! Which means a lot of intense preparation yet, and I've got to fit in the required number of sparring sessions before then (which will be... tight), but I think we both have a really good chance of passing the final exam. \o/ But in the meantime... ow. Also, tired.

I've also been re-reading Queen of Attolia and King of Attolia during car rides and at night to unwind, and they are not only making me very happy but doing an excellent job of reminding me exactly why I wanted to write in the first place. What a wonderful reward it would be if someday someone laid in bed reading one of my books, desperately trying to smother gleeful giggles for fear of disturbing family members...

And that's basically a summary of my life lately.

Now I need to go and write a little more, because I'm behind on my word count for the day.

This... took me rather longer than anticipated. But - I finally have a (mostly functioning) brain again! Now if this stupid cough would just leave... XP

Anyhow - trip stuff!

( Bit of general trip stuff + book comments here! )

Had a couple interesting days, here. Starting off with - Spring? Hahahaha. Not so much. Got... over 12 inches of snow yesterday, I believe. I'd have appreciated it a whole lot more closer to the middle of winter. Particularly coming on the heels of the eight inches or so we got last week. Heh.

We did manage to get into town before the snowcover got too heavy, though, because Nef and I were babysitting a family of five kids while their parents are out of town yesterday afternoon through tonight. Fortunately the parents got to their hotel alright, if a bit late... Our own family was slightly less fortunate.

We got an email from Mom at about a 10:30 pm to let us know that Dad's truck had gone into the creek ditch behind our house. Thankfully both he and our brother were okay - they were in the process of plowing our driveway so Dad could get to work in the morning, and neither of them were wearing seatbelts at the time (since they often need to get in and out while plowing), so it could have been a lot worse. Doesn't even look like the truck was too badly damaged in the end. But of course they weren't able to get a tow truck out at that time of night, or even early this morning, so Dad wasn't able to get in to work until about noon today.

Other than that it's been a fun couple of days, though. My level of exhaustion at the end of the days has me questioning my capabilities as a future mother but... everyone got fed good meals on time, everyone got their chores and schoolwork done (they're all homeschooled, so we were teaching/supervising work today), no one got hurt, and nothing got destroyed.  So all in all I count it a success. *bg*

Tonight at dinner, after I made a remark about his "turning over a new leaf" in regards to the way he eats, my brother declared that he would willingly eat brussel sprouts at dinner every night if it resulted in my using puns.

Anyone who knows his dislike of "green food" generally, and brussel sprouts particularly, knows what a monumental declaration that is.

I'm... not sure what that says about my sense of humor. Or lack thereof. But hey. I wonder if the same thing'll work with my children one day.

I'm WARM! I'm finally warm!

Heheheh. Yeah, it's seemed like it has been feeling unusually cold in the basement (where I sleep, and do the vast majority of my work) this year. And then, just last night, my dad made a discovery - apparently, my brother forgot to switch around the vents like he was supposed to. Y'see, the design of our house, while pretty, is somewhat less than efficient. So, when we have the A/C going in the summer, we close off all the vents to the basement and fully open the upstairs ones, so that things stay fairly balanced. In the winter, we switch that around, so the basement stays warm enough and the top floor doesn't get overheated. The switch-around is usually done by my brother and/or dad, because the vents downstairs are all on the ceiling, and kind of hard to get to. Only this year it... somehow didn't actually happen. Until last night. XD

So - today I was warm! Yay!

Also, we went to see The Hobbit in 3D for Nef's birthday. (Though not in the higher frame rate.) I wanted to see it that way, just because theaters are the only place you can really get that experience, but I wasn't expecting too much. I'm... not a big fan of 3D, generally, although it's sometimes very impressive with animated movies. Those glasses, though, particularly when you already wear normal glasses, just... blargh.

I was very pleasantly surprised, though. For the first few minutes, I wondered a bit if we shouldn't have just opted for regular 2D instead. But wow... Yes, I'm glad we did see it. I think the CG - somewhat to my surprise - looked better that way. It really brought out the intense attention to detail in the costuming, and some of the sets, as well. (Both Nef and I, as it turned out, were somewhat mesmerized by the water in the foreground during certain shots of the White Council. *g*) And some scenes - particularly the scene with the stone giants, which I'd been pretty "meh" about previously - played to much better effect in the 3D. And the part at the end with the eagles was just gorgeous. And wooooow, that moment at the end when Smaug's eye pops open? O.O I think it might've been worth it to see it in 3D just for how awesome that was. 

Even aside from the 3D, though, I did enjoy it more the second time around, as I'd expected from previous experiences. The overall tone seemed more internally consistent. Mostly, I think, because my brain didn't keep snagging on little surprises. And there were a number of small details that I noticed that just really pleased me. Among them: I'd thought the first time that there were a couple of dark-haired elves without helmets riding with Elrond who might've been the twins. But this time - do my eyes deceive me, or did I actually catch a glimpse of Glorfindel there as well? :D Yeah, probably just wishful thinking. But I am such a huge Glorfindel fan.

So yeah, I'm pleased overall. I do see that some of the criticisms I've read from others are valid ones, either from a movie making perspective or from a book-fan perspective. And there are things that bug me, too. But... I don't know. 


( I shall now move on to pointless and probably confusing ramblings about movies and books. )



At any rate - happy birthday to nefhiriel! Love you lots, tithen muinthel-nin. ;)

I now know how to quickly field-strip and reassemble a Glock 9mm. It's not actually all that hard, but I am still immensely proud of this fact.

Also, reason gazillion-and-one why my family is awesome. Today at lunch Nef and Eric were discussing HTML and CSS. Our technophobic father, of course, quickly got bored. But instead of changing the subject, he decided to express his boredom by... playing the William Tell Overture on his front teeth with his fingernails. And then, when we started laughing, proceeded to explain why it's so much easier to do it with a pencil instead.

Yeah, I love my family.

Mmmkay, so apparently my brother is now "Pokey" - Loki's twin brother, the god of the obvious. He also gives very threatening hugs. 

Yeah, I don't actually know how that conversation devolved into this, but... there you are. 

(ETA: Okay, and Mom accidentally referred to Tony Stark as Tony Snark and Bruce Banner as "squishy". I'm just gonna go over to this corner and die of the giggles now...)

 Happy Easter, to all who celebrate it! Hope your day's a lovely one. :)

Gonna be a quiet one, here, but good. Now we're back from church, we'll mostly just be hanging out at home, cooking, enjoying the warmest, nice, sunny day we've had in a while. Yay! Lance and Dylan will be coming over for dinner, later. Turkey dinner - not quiiiite traditional, I know, but my dad is crazy for leftover turkey. *g* 

By the way, heads up for anyone who plays Dragon Cave and hasn't noticed - there's currently a very fun Easter egg hunt going on! I'm particularly excited about this one, because it marks the first time my art's officially appeared on the site. ^.^ Though it's mostly handled by the in-cave artists, I was invited to secretly participate in creating the art this time around. Ended up having so much fun I made three different eggs, then got indecisive about which'd work best, and sent them all in for those in charge to decide which they'd like. Looks like my favorite was chosen in the end! *happiness* 

Anyhow - even if you haven't done anything yet, there should be plenty of time to participate still if you'd like, as the event'll be going on for another couple of days. :3